I especially like the "young and rich" list (see the sidebar on the CNN article for the various lists.) I do wonder about the "cleanest air" list when several in the top ten are in New Jersey!

Based on my knowledge of the three Washington places in the top 25 (I used to work in one, Sweetie used to work in one, and we've both lived near the third) their criteria for the list is: Suburb where people who have money and like chain restaurants move to escape the diversity of living in an actual city.

"move to escape the diversity "

How about moving to escape higher taxes since big cities are getting to be expensive? Also you can get a little bit of yard in the suburbs.

"Based on my knowledge of the three Washington places in the top 25 (I used to work in one, Sweetie used to work in one, and we've both lived near the third) their criteria for the list is: Suburb where people who have money and like chain restaurants move to escape the diversity of living in an actual city."

This is a pretty damn accurate description of Mukilteo.

If we're being honest, I don't really get how a place sandwiched between Everett and Lynnwood is really that great. A good friend of mine bought a house in a new subdivision there (he has Microsoft money, so he can afford it) and it looks like the exact same postage-stamp lot with a house footprint that is 5% smaller than the lot boundary development we get in Beaverton and Hillsboro. He has to drive for an hour in the parking lot known as the 405 to get to the Redmond / Bellevue area for work. Everything is a car drive down Hwy 99 or the Mukilteo Speedway.

To hell with that, I'll stay in inner southeast.